Happy Birthday
by CaileeChaos
Summary: Ace let his lips linger against my skin. I could feel his smirk and knew he was doing this to piss off Chris. Ace shrugged, "Not so nice, are we Chambers? I'm not the one you should be mad at; I didn't forget her birthday."


**Disclaimer: If I owned **Stand By Me **or **The Body**, do you really think I would need to write on here?**

**The idea for this one-shot came to me the other night. I was dreaming and I dreamt that Chris and Gordie were on an episode of **That 70's Show**, drinking with Hyde, Eric, Kelso, and Fez at the water tower. When I woke I realized that neither would actually do that. Then I thought, but if they did, I would be so pissed. And thus came this one-shot. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think. :]**

The music blared through the house, mixing in with the voices of the mindless, drunken teenagers. I looked around at the throng of people. Everyone was dancing and singing, drinking and mingling. Everyone was having a goodtime; everyone but me. Which was ironic considering the party was thrown for my entertainment in honor of my seventeenth birthday. I sighed. The party was fine. It's the guest list I had a problem with.

Teddy had shown up an hour before the celebration started and apologized. He would have to miss the party because he couldn't get off work. He gave me my present; his beloved army jacket that was now two sizes too small-a perfect fit for my petite frame. Vern-o, who had arrived just on time, was now somewhere upstairs with his girlfriend Sherry. I hoped they were having a good time; something told me they were. As for Chris and Gordie…well, I had searched the house four times now-four times and still no sign of my best friends.

The party ended sometime around three that morning. I'd fallen onto my bed dreading the cleaning spree I would go through tomorrow before my parents got home. I had just settled into a dreamless slumber when the phone rang. Lazily, I climbed from my bed just in time to catch the call. "Hello?"

"Lizzie!" Gordie's cheerful voice called.

"Don't call me that," I snapped. Lizzie the Lizard. Ugh, I shivered. Ever since Vern threw a lizard at me when we were eight and my absurd fear of lizards became extremely evident, the boys had adapted to calling me Lizzie apart from my real name, Lorene. Gordie simply chuckled loudly as he began to bellow out in song 'Lizzie the Lizard'-the musical.

"Gimme that!" Chris's voice whined. I heard brief shuffling before Chris spoke clearly, "Hey doll face, guess what?"

"Doll face?" I mocked, sincerely angry that they woke me up after having the audacity to skip my party. Chris ignored my comment and began to yell at Gordie for singing too loudly. They both erupted with giggles. Suddenly, I realized what was going on.

"Are you drunk?"

"What, what?" Chris giggled.

"Are you drunk? God, Chris, drinking? You of all people," I muttered the last bit as Gordie confirmed my suspicion. I groaned, "Where are you two?"

"At the," Gordie hiccupped. "Water tower. Why?"

"Care to join us?" Chris asked joyfully.

"I'm coming to get you. Stay there," I barked, hanging up the phone. I grabbed my jacket and keys, slipped on some shoes, and left. As he'd said, they were at the water tower. Well, on it, rather. "Guys, get down! Jesus! You're gonna fall! Are you trying to get yourselves killed?!"

"Aw, the height police are here," Chris joked, taking another sip of beer. I glared at him, "Get down now!"

"Yes ma'am," Gordie hiccupped once more. He began to climb down.

"No, Gordo! Don't go! It's a trap!" Chris wailed dramatically. I glared up at the blonde, "Chambers get your ass down here!"

"You're not my mother, Lore," he rolled his eyes. Chris took another swig of his drink before belching loudly and tossing the empty can over the guard railing. It landed mere inches from where I stood. Suddenly Gordie fell the remaining six feet to the ground. "Gordie!"

Chris echoed my screams and began to climb down the tower. I rushed over to his side. I scooped his head into my lap, pushing his hair back, I called out to him, "Lachance! Gordie, come on! Wake up!"

"Gordie!" Chris moaned. "Oh shit."

Chris jumped off the ladder, skidding to a stop beside me. "Gordie, hey, man. Are you okay?"

"That hurt," Gordie mutter as his eyes slowly opened. I gave a small sigh of relief. Glaring up at Chris, I demanded, "Help me get him to the car."

Silently, he did just that. We dropped Gordie off at his house. I helped him up to his room. I took off his shoes and watched as he flopped onto the bed. He'd already passed out before I left. When I got back in the car Chris had the radio blaring and was bobbing his head along with Elvis. I rolled my eyes and shut it off.

"Hey, why'd ya do that?" he pouted.

"Because you were waking up the entire neighborhood. Now shut up and go to sleep," I growled. Chris snorted, "What crawled up your ass and die?"

"Nothing, now shut up!" I shouted. I was furious now. My body was physically shaking from the anger. Chris continued to mumbled on about how I was being a wet rag all the way home. When we pulled up to my house, his eye brows furrowed, "Why are we here?"

"Well if you would like your father to kill you, I can take you home."

His eyes widened as he realized what I said, "Here is fine."

It took nearly forty minutes to get his drunken, stumbling ass out of the car and up the front steps. When we entered the house, he slipped on a random cup. He looked around at the streamer and junk food abandoned after the party. "What the hell happened here…" but he trailed off, a look of recognition passing his worn features. His eyes flickered up to mine from his spot on the floor. His mouth fell open, sadness clouding his eyes. "Lore…"

"Save it, Chambers," I snapped. I walked to the hall closet and snatched up a clean blanket. I tossed it to him and motioned the couch. "Get some sleep."

"Lorene," Chris stated as he picked himself up. "I am so-"

"I don't want to hear it, Chris," I spat, my heart clenching. I left him to sleep and returned to my bed. I snuggled with the pillow firm in my iron clutch. Gradually, tears formed in my eyes. He forgot my birthday. Chris forgot me. So did Gordie. And instead of coming to my party they got drunk at the water tower. Chris and Gordie of all people. You would think after growing up with an alcoholic as a father Chris would know better. You would think after having your older brother die from being hit by a drunk driver Gordie would known better. You would think…

-*-

After crying myself to sleep, I awoke that morning feeling refreshed. Bummed sincerely, but still refreshed. I always sleep well after a decent cry. I dressed and made my way down stairs. I could hear Chris's faint snores from the kitchen. I fixed myself some pancakes, leaving some for him knowing his parents probably won't have food at his house. I was angry at myself for still caring if he got fed, but it was still Chris and I still loved him, even if he had forgotten me.

I grabbed up the grocery pad my mom keeps on the fridge and scribbled down a note. _Here's some aspirin. Take it. There's some breakfast. Help yourself. Don't bother coming to look for me. _

I tossed it on the table and (after setting out some aspirin and a glass of water) left. I ended up wondering around Castle Rock half of the day before deciding to head home and clean up. When I got back to the house, Chris was gone. The kitchen was cleaned up and he had written a note under mine. _I would have cleaned up more but I have work. I really am sorry and I will make it up to you. I love you, Lizzie. _

I growled at the paper, tears welling up in my eyes. I ripped the note off the pad and crumbled it, tossing it into the trash bin. I began to shake again and thought it best to busy myself. In a fever, I started to clean. I managed to clean the living room, all upstairs, and the down stairs bathroom. I had just began cleaning the dining room when the front door open. A familiar voice called, "Honey, I'm home."

I laughed quietly. Not many people get the chance to hear Ace Merrill say 'honey'. Ace sauntered into the room, a sexy swagger in his unusually upbeat step. I raised an eyebrow, "Why so happy?"

"No reason," he grinned, obviously lying. I shrugged, "Fine, no one's going to make you tell me."

"Good," he smirked. "I see the party went well."

"Fairly so," I mumbled. Ace decided to play the part of the helpful friend and finished cleaning with me. I know, I was shocked to, though Ace never fails to amaze me. The relationship I had with Ace was weird to say the least. After the Ray Brower adventure he got the boys good. He broke three of Gordie's fingers, gotten Eyeball to break Chris's arm in two places, gotten Vince to beat up Vern, and Billy to beat up Teddy. When the police asked who had done it, they boys refused to rat on him. Somehow that made Ace respect them and they lived in a mutual peace now. No, they weren't friends, no Eyeball wasn't suddenly nice to Chris, but things calmed down. Especially when all the boys hit puberty and suddenly became startlingly muscular.

While all that was going on, Ace nor any other Cobra had ever done anything to me. Ace may have been a prick but he didn't hit girls. Nope, they left me alone other than the occasional perverted joke or a crack about my friends. Still, I never liked them; in fact, I hated them. Until my house caught on fire about three summers back. My cousin Sam was over and didn't realize that lighting firecrackers inside was a bad idea. Ace had managed to get me and Sam out and take us both to the hospital before we could be severely hurt. After that I found myself running in to him a lot more, and I didn't mind. Eventually we came to the realization that we were friends and that everyone was just going to have to deal with that.

Suddenly, Ace pulled me from my thoughts, "So I gotcha something."

"Hmm?" I raised my gaze from washing my hands.

"A present. You know, for your birthday, or whatever."

I snorted, despite my smile. "Do you even know how old I am?"

"Twelve?"

"Seventeen," I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Ace simply shrugged, "Anyway, do you wanna see it?"

"Sure," I grinned. He pushed himself off the counter, "Come on."

I followed him outside and saw a baby blue Ford parked in my drive-way. I furrowed my brow, "Ace, not that I don't love your new car and everything, but baby blue? That doesn't exactly scream 'Cobra'."

Ace shrugged, "It takes a real man to drive a baby blue."

"That's not how that phrase goes."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, do you like her?"

"Love her," I mumbled. "But where's my-"

"Good, cause she's your's."

"Excuse me?" I gaped.

"Remember that guy I know, Marco? The one from Chamberlain? Well he owns this car dealership. He said he'd give it to me for free. I mean, she still has some problems but-"

"I don't care!" I exclaimed. "You bought me a car!"

"No, genius, I just said I got it for free-"

"You got me a car!"

"Yeah, but she's not drive able yet. I still have to fine tune her. I need to get new breaks and change the back left tire-" but he didn't finish as I tackled him in a huge hug. "You got me a car!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got you a car. It's not a big deal-"

"Are you kidding? It's amazing!" I grinned. I went over and sat in the driver's seat. "You know you're going to have to teach me to drive."

He snorted, "You can't drive?"

"Not a stick-shift," I mumbled running my fingers over the steering wheel. I grinned once more and leapt from the car, hugging him yet again. "I love it. Thank you so much."

"Well, as glad as that makes me, I suggest you get off of me."

"Why?" I pulled away slightly.

"Cause you're boyfriend doesn't look to happy."

"What?" I asked, confused. I turned and saw Chris approaching, an unclear expression on his face. I glared at Ace, punching him in the shoulder, "He isn't my boyfriend, you homo."

As Chris approached, the look on his face remained the same. He came to a stop, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Feeling cold, I shrugged, "Talk."

"Trouble in paradise?" Ace joked. We ignored him.

"Can we talk in private?" he eyed Ace. Ace shrugged, "Not so nice, are we Chambers? I'm not the one you should be mad at; I didn't forget her birthday." Instinctively, I wanted to tell him to shut up. Even if I was mad at Chris, I didn't want Ace to be rude to him.

"I didn't forget," Chris growled, an ashamed glaze covering his blue irises. "I just didn't realize-"

"Yeah, sure, Christopher," Ace mocked. I shot him a thin lipped looked. Ace caught my drift, he pulled me into a hug, kissing my temple. Ace let his lips linger against my skin. I could feel his smirk and knew he was doing this to piss of Chris. Silently, I hoped he was jealous. "Bye babe," he spoke against my skin as he dropped the keys in my hand. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks for the present," I called to his retreated figure. He shot me a wave and continued on. I turned to glare at Chris, "What do you want?"

"Come with me."

"Where?" I scoffed as I entered the house.

"I want to give you your present," he spoke, his voice soft and sincere. I could tell he was sorry, but I was too angry to care.

"I don't want anything from you," I growled just to hurt him. I spun on my heels, reaching out and gripping the front door. "Keep your gift."

And then I slammed the door in his face.

-*-

My parents returned home safely that afternoon, glad I'd had a good party and happy that the house was still in one piece (and un-burnt, might I add). They retired to bed quickly, tired from their two-day trip. I told them goodnight, kissed their cheeks, and decided to retire to my room as well. I was halfway through a _Midsummer Night's Dream _when a soft tick came from my window. I should have known it was Chris; but foolishly, I opened the window and stuck my head out.

Upon seeing the teenage Chambers boy, I glared, rolled my eyes, and snapped, "Go away, Chris. I'm still angry."

I abruptly shut the window and returned to my book. The soft ticking continued for a few minutes before he gave up his futile attempt. I grinned softly, victory coursing through my veins. My eyes drifted over the page reading the play word for word when suddenly, a soft knock came to my door. Before I could answer, the door creaked open quietly and Chris slipped in. If I hadn't been so shock, I would have been angry. "How…?"

"Spare key," he spoke softly as he held up the key we kept under the welcome mat. "Dig it."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Get out, Chris. When I'm finished being bitter I'll come find you. Can't you just let me feel sorry for myself?"

"No," he whispered. I watched as he dropped the key onto my desk and ran his hands over his head, through his terribly short hair. Chris sighed and peered at me; his expression melancholy at best. I felt guilty, in a way. Here he is, trying his damnedest to apologize and I won't listen.

"Come with me," he pleaded, suddenly. He paced over to me and cupped my cheek, "I am so sorry, Lorene. I forgot. That's it. I'm not going to make excuses. I feel horrible; please let me make it up to you."

The sincerity and regret in his voice was so evident that I nearly melted. I rolled my eyes at my own pettiness. I wrapped my arms around myself and shrugged, "Fine, Chris."

Instantly, he broke out in a grin. "You'll love it. I promise." He kissed my cheek and led me out of the house. I followed him out by the old rail road tracks that led to Harlow. Memories flooded my mind. I tugged on Chris's arm, letting my hand fall into his own, "We're not going to see another dead kid, are we?"

"No," he chuckled. As it turns out, he was not lying. He ended up leading me to the forest on the other side of the tracks. It was still light enough outside for us to make out everything around us but not enough so that the warmth of the sun heated us. I shivered a bit from the cold chill running through the trees.

"It's just over here," Chris halted. "Close your eyes."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, please."

Rolling my eyes, I closed them shut. I felt him wrap an arm around my waist, guiding me the rest of the walk. I was glad for his body heat. "Stop."

I did as he said, impatiently tapping my foot. Chris slide his arms around my waist from behind, his head resting on my shoulder. I felt his lips brush my ear, the heat from his breath sending pulses through my body. "Okay," he whispered, his voice low and sultry. "Open your eyes."

Bit by bit, I did so. I grinned at the sight before me. We were in a small secluded area of the forest. There was a small stream flittering through the ground and beside it lay a large blanket, a picnic basket, and Teddy's old portable radio. I turned to face Chris. Smiling, he asked, "Do you like it? I brought burgers from the Blue Point. And I got you some of that strawberry sherbet junk you eat. Oh, and coke. I didn't forget the coke. I also got some extra blankets incase is was cold. You know, just in case. It's not much but I mean…it's cool, ya know? And I thought we-"

"Chris," I laughed. "Shut up, man, you're blabbering."

Chris blushed and looked down. I smiled and nudged him to look at me. "I love it. All of it. Thank you."

I pulled him close to me, hugging him fiercely. Chris lifted me slightly, since I was almost six inches shorter than him, and buried his face in my hair. He mumbled softly, "I'm so sorry, Lore. I honestly didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, Chris," I slipped out of his arms. I kissed his cheek, "Come on, I'm hungry."

We settled down into the blankets and, like he predicted, we ended up needing the other blankets to fight of the oncoming cold of night. As we ate, we talked about everything. And I do mean everything. We talked about Gordie, school, his family, Teddy, his job, superman, my family, Vern, the Ray Brower trip, baseball, Ace, what we wanted to do with our lives, music, comic books, the other Cobras, etc. We stayed in the clearing talking into the late hours of the night. When we got on the subject of our futures, Chris enlightened me on his acceptance to college. The University of Maine had accepted him into their law program on a scholarship. That's why he and Gordie were drinking last night.

"Chris I am so proud of you," I flung myself on him. His chuckles shook our bodies and he nodded, "Me too…I couldn't have done it, though, not without you and Gordie."

"Yes you could have," I insisted, still hugging him. "Ah, college! That's wonderful, Chris."

Suddenly, Chris shot up, "Oh, your present. I almost forgot."

"I thought this was my present?" I asked, still grinning from the news, as he reached across me, into the picnic basket.

"Nope," he popped his lips on the p. Grinning, he handed me a small purple box. He sat still for a moment, conflict written on his face (though it was well hidden), before he gently brushed his lips against my own. "Happy seventeenth birthday, Lorene."

I blushed furiously, "Chris you didn't ha-"

"Just open it will ya? And no, it's not a pack of Winstons."

I grinned cheekily at my best friend before lifted the lid and dropping it onto the blanket beside me. My breath caught in my throat. In the box was a silver locket in the shape of a heart dangling on a small, thin chain. I looked up at Chris, astonished. It was beautiful.

"Read it," he breathed cautiously. Glancing back at the locket I noticed a scripture written on it. I picked it up, the cool silver shocking my fingers. Written on the front was: _Happy Birthday Lorene_. On the back: _I'll Love You Forever -Chris_. I bit my lip. I lifted the locket from the box and held it out for him. "Put it on?"

Chris nodded briefly, a small smile playing on his gentle face. He took the necklace from me. I picked up my hair and pivoted so he could maneuver around me. He clipped the locket, fastening it around me neck and allowing his fingers to trail over the exposed skin. "I bought it a few weeks ago and had it engraved. Do you like it?" he whispered, his voice cutting through the peaceful night air.

I nodded, leaning back into him, "I love it, Chris. Thank you." I lifted my gaze as he wrapped his arms around my body. I shifted so I could look at him, my fingers subconsciously weaving themselves with his. I peered into his eyes and spoke, "I love you too."

Chris smiled softly, "You're the only person who has ever said that to me and meant it."

"I do…mean it," I nodded. "I'm so in love with you."

Chris's smile widened. "Yeah?" he asked carefully. I nodded, "Forever," I mocked him teasingly. "Oh well in that case we can take things slow, ya know, since you'll love me forever."

I faked a glare, a smile on my face. Chris smirked as he bent down and connect our lips. This kiss was unlike the first which was friendly and brief. This time, he held my lips captive for a long, passionate embrace. When pulled apart blushing and breathless, "Happy birthday, Lore."


End file.
